1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to pressurized fluid control and regulation valves and more particularly to an air pressure regulator with a high-pressure reserve for use with a paintball marker.
2. Description of Related Art
The sport of paintball is an activity where the participants use air-powered paintball markers to impel frangible balls filled with colored liquid at opposing participants. When the frangible ball, also referred to as a paintball, strikes an opponent, it breaks and releases the contents of the paintball leaving a mark. The air used to impel a paintball, in the typical paintball marker, is normally stored in a bottle at a pressure in the range of approximately 800 to 4,500 psi. The pressured air exits the bottle into a primary regulator that regulates and supplies air in the range of approximately 400 to 1000 psi. The primary regulator remains attached to the bottle and provides a connector to allow the bottle to be refilled. If the paintball marker user does not keep the refill connector covered, dirt can be forced into the connector during use in the field. If the refill connector is not cleaned before refilling the bottle, dirt can be swept into the bottle. It is common for dirt in the air supply to stick to internal seals and to interfere with the movement of internal parts; thereby, causing the paintball marker to malfunction.
The bottle is generally attached to the butt of the paintball marker and provides a secondary function of stabilizing the marker much like the stock of a conventional rifle. The pressured air from the primary regulator pass through a flexible hose, commonly made of plastic or other durable material with an approximate outside diameter of about ¼ inch, to a secondary regulator. Air from the primary regulator enters the secondary regulator, which regulates and supplies air to the paintball marker in the range of approximately 80 to 600 psi. The paintball marker uses the air supplied by the secondary regulator to impel the paintball out of the barrel of the marker. Most secondary regulators threadedly attach to the bottom of the paintball marker a short distance in front of the trigger guard. The position of the secondary regulator enables it to serve as a handgrip to stabilize the paintball marker while in use; however, the location in which the supply hose from the primary regulator attaches to the secondary regulator can limit the secondary regulator's usefulness as a handgrip. If the hose from the primary regulator attaches to the secondary regulator on the side, it may be difficult to use the secondary regulator as a handgrip as the position of the hose interferes with the user's hand or forces the user's grip into an unnatural position.
Some paintball markers are capable of impelling in excess of 20 paintballs per second. A common characteristic of paintball markers under rapid and sustained use is that the paintballs impelled towards the end of a sequence leave the paintball marker barrel with less velocity and travel a shorter distance than the balls at the beginning of the sequence. The decline of paintball velocity from the start of a sustained sequence to the end of the sequence decreases accuracy.
In paintball sport competitions, the velocity at which a paintball marker impels a paintball from its barrel is limited to 300 fps or less to protect the participants from harm. A relationship exists between the gas pressure provided to the marker and the speed at which a paintball leaves the barrel. One method used to adjust the muzzle velocity of an exiting paintball is to increase or decrease the air pressure provided by the secondary regulator. Generally, rotating an adjustment screw or knob increases or decreases the gas pressure supplied by the secondary regulator to the paintball marker and subsequently increases or decreases the muzzle velocity of an exiting paintball. The adjustments must be made while operating the paintball marker and while simultaneously measuring the exit velocity of an impelled paintball with a chronograph. The location of the adjustment screw or knob affects the ease of adjusting the gas pressure of the secondary regulator. Adjustment screws or knobs located at the bottom of the secondary regulator may make adjusting the gas pressure, and hence the exit velocity of a paintball, awkward.
Accordingly, there is a need for an air pressure regulator that can maintain a constant muzzle velocity during periods of rapid and sustained use that allows convenient adjustment from the side, that minimizes the negative impact of dirt in the air supply and that acts as a convenient, natural handgrip. The present invention satisfies these needs, as well as others, and overcomes some of the deficiencies in current air driven projectile devices.